It all started with a bet, at least according to legend. An insurance salesman in the mid-1960s, Harold P. Warren, wagered Stirling Silliphant that he could make a popular horror movie for less than $20,000.

Today, of course, that would be easy to do with just an iPhone and a MacBook. But in the 1960s, many of these tools were found only with major Hollywood studios, and so Silliphant took that bet.

A year later, Warren had produced what is sometimes known as the “worst movie of all time,” and Silliphant would go on to win an Oscar for writing In the Heat of the Night. Yet, it’s Manos: The Hands of Fate many fans still talk about today – thanks to its reintroduction to audiences in a 1993 episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 – and has enjoyed cult status ever since.

Despite the many myths surrounding the production – like many cast members dying mysteriously or by suicide soon after its limited release – those involved more than 50 years ago still talk about the film today. Including Jackey Neyman Jones.

She played the little girl Debbie in the production, while her father – Tom Neyman – was the bad guy, known as “The Master.” Jones was actually the only human in the film to be paid anything – she got a bicycle with training wheels. And her family’s dog earned a 50-pound bag of fo